This is not something that you have to think about immediately. I call it more of a stick-a-pin-in-this-moment. But there were two separate stories that juxtaposed for me tonight, and I saw the writing on the wall as clearly as Indiana Jones following a tattered map.
There are many things wrong with Donald Trump, mentally and emotionally, but he is not an imbecile. What he is is a clinical sociopath. Believe me, I know, because I spent more than 20 years married to one. Clinically diagnosed. After all, Trump could not have held together a tottering personal business for more than 25 years by pure force of will, and calculated threats, if he were a moron. And even a total moron would have trouble getting 70 million other total morons to vote for him for President.
Here are the two things that happened separately, but brought me that moment of conjunctive clarity. First, Rachel Maddow had on the Fulton County prosecutor who had just opened a criminal investigation on Trump over his January 2nd call to the Georgia Secretary of State, demanding that he find enough votes to put Trump over the top in the state of Georgia.
The second thing was something that we have been hearing about for about a day now, ever since the tour de force presentation of the House managers in the Senate trial yesterday, but Rachel and Lawrence O’Donnell went into a little more detail in their hand off tonight. The point was that the House’s case was so tight, so replete with hard evidence, video, audio, depositions, and forensic evidence that, even if the Senate GOP refused to convict Trump, was there enough there for a federal, or even a District Attorney prosecution?
And that was my moment of clarity. Because pf course either a US Attorney for Washington DC, or the DC District Attorney has a gift wrapped package from the House Impeachment prosecutors. And that sent me spinning back deeper into the psyche of Donald Trump, and his only salient defense strategy became as crystal clear to me as a champagne glass.
In their case presentation, the House managers went into an incredible amount of detail. And not just into Trump’s speech on January 6th, and the events at the Capitol, but going back months. They showed speech after pre election speech, showing Trump telling his supporters that the only way he could lose the election was if it was rigged. And after the election, Trump’s thundering denunciations that they were well ahead on election night, only to see their lead slip away as the blatant fraud took place. The fix was in, and they were robbed.
The benefits for Trump were twofold. First, the constant bombardment that the election was stolen gave Trump the ability to whip up his ravening horde to storm the Capitol to stop the steal! But it also served a second, more subliminal purpose.
Pure and simple, there was no voter fraud. The simple fact that so many states went through either full or partial recounts, and that the paper ballot backups showed consistent results proves that there was no rampant voter fraud. But it doesn’t really matter, because it served a second purpose as well.
Whether in a US court in Washington, a district court in Washington, or a court in Fulton county in Georgia, the Trump defense can remain the same. Diminished mental capacity. After all, Trump had spent the last 6 months vowing to his supporters that the only way they could lose was if the election was stolen. He continued the delusional behavior all the way through the speech to his loyalists on January 6th. Trump was legally incapable of inciting a riot, or of threatening a Georgia state official, simple because he honestly believed that he had won. Trump was incapable of inciting an insurrection, simply because he honestly believed that he had won in the first place.
Do me a favor. Don’t judge this article now. As I said, just stick-a-pin-in-it, Because I honestly feel that criminal charges are coming. And would Trump accept a diminished capacity defense? In my honest opinion, yes. The only thing that Trump loathes more than being a loser is modeling an orange jump suit. And if it came down to it, Trump would show up in court wearing knit blue slippers, and playing with paper dolls if it kept him out of prison. Don’t touch that dial.
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I think it might just be a little harder for him to claim diminished responsibility than that, but it is a good point.
Pin stuck.
Interesting. I’ve seen a lot of theories. It’ll be interesting to see which one plays out.
Maybe you’re right, but I don’t think it’s going to work. I’ll stay with “sociopath”.
Sorry, Murf, but no. The very nature of his disorder would keep him from going for that one. You’re overlooking the narcissism aspect of it, the one that can never accept being seen as a loser or weak. Without it in play, I would agree with you. But it is ALWAYS in play.
Every time anyone has ever thought about his behavior in terms of how a rational person would act, it’s always been wrong. Much as I love you, Murf, you’re making that very mistake here.
He’d try it as a last-ditch move to avoid jail.
Then cannot we claim he is of diminished capacity to the point of being a risk to society and thus “lock him up” in a padded cell?
If Trump had a choice of impeachment with no jail sentence or not being impeached and having a pretty good chance of going to jail, which would he choose? Maybe the prosecutors need to present that on Friday to defense so Trump can choose!(
Unfortunately Murf, it will never happen – he’s a ‘stable genius’ (according to himself). Translation = “Everybody’s crazy except you ane me – and I’m not sure about you”.
It could be interesting – if he’s deemed to be legally incompetent, the infighting between Melania and the siblings over who controls daddy’s ‘finances’ should be worth watching
I hope his real lawyers took care of that. Certainly it was something that should have been done before this. It’s something everyone should do when they get past 65 or so. (I did a living will, a medical POA and a financial POA before I went into chemo.)
I don’t doubt that lawyers working on his behalf would want to employ this strategy. I also don’t doubt that Trump would, if only alone with his thoughts coldly weigh the pros and cons of trying it. I even allow for the possibility that he would at some point consider it in a “I’ll do it to get off the hook criminally & then turn right around and go back and get declared competent so I can stay in charge of my business, money and brand.” The thing is, he’s old and even he knows he’s not in the best of health. Last night’s reports that he was sicker during his bout with Covid than he let on weren’t a surprise to me. He was literally sucking wind and grimacing when he stood there back at the WH and ripped off his mask & jammed it in his pocket. Had he not had access to cutting edge treatments (they threw the kitchen sink of experimental AND highly expensive treatments few people would ever be offered at his particular case) he might well have wound up on a ventilator. As it was, his refusal to stay in the hospital might have come at the cost of permanent damage to his body. He’s out of the woods but he will never again be but a few steps from the forest and facing an uphill walk he’s incapable of making to get well away from it – he could stumble, fall and roll right back into it at any time. In those isolated moments in the middle of the night he KNOWS this. Given all that, the one thing he’s got that he clings to is the power he derives from his “base.” Pleading diminished capacity in court, even if he never had to open his mouth would I think he knows break the spell. Sure, he could get some of those folks back but not all of them and maybe not even a majority of them. For all the sociopathic traits he’s displayed (not just recently but for decades) the narcissistic ones are I believe more dominant.
He’s old and in poor health. His family knows better than the rest of his how things are with him and more importantly his finances and that of the Trump Org. It’s almost certainly a house of cards and can collapse like a skyscraper from an implosion & those kids will want to grab everything they can before the implosion reaches them down near the bottom. They are their father’s children and as remorseless as he is. He knows it too. When you think about it the “he should be proud” thing is quite ironic! My point is that I think rolling the dice with trying a diminished capacity defense and then once “clear” turning around and saying “Nope – I’m fine now” is something he’d find too risky.
The other problem he faces is that he could only try it ONCE. Use it successfully one time then turn around and get himself declared competent (and he might be able to bully his family into getting away with it) again is a one-time deal. I say that because he’s facing MULTIPLE criminal and civil cases in multiple jurisdictions. If he goes down the diminished capacity road it’s more like passing a point of no return.
I think you’re correct in noting that this is something we should watch for down the road (and maybe not all that far down the road!) but I still believe he would be drawn kicking and screaming against his will (and publicly so) against pleading this in a court of law. In a criminal trial he wouldn’t get to make the rules and there would be no NDA he can hide behind as he’s done when he knew he was beaten in civil matters prior to becoming a public figure. Evidence would have to be introduced and that evidence would reach back to his time as President. MAGA land would learn of it and not even Fox working as furiously as they could would be able to protect him, and that’s assuming the Murdoch family would let them at that point. They’ve got other problems these days and profitable as their American branch has been for them they are an international corporation with their own elderly patriarch who is fighting (successfully so far) to maintain ultimate authority. But HE won’t live forever, and as a result neither will his influence with governments and regulators in other countries and parts of the world and sticking behind Trump no matter what has already caused them some problems. Trying to cover Trump’s ass if he tried a stunt like this would hit Murdoch’s empire hard and if not a mortal blow then a crippling one for them once Rupert is out of the picture.
So, when crunch time comes I think Trump will try to whistle past the graveyard one more time. But it’s well worth putting that pin in the corkboard because the speculation when that time comes should be entertaining as hell.
Consider the proverbial pin stuck … but methinks that a clever prosecutor could then show that Trump’s continuing insistence on having won bigly in 2020 was, in fact, also a terrific scam for fleecing his gullible deplorables out of millions of dollars. And that shrewd cynical aspect of the tale shows definite cognitive competence.
Thanks, Murf, that IS a thought to ponder. Right now I’m seeing the narcissist fighting against giving in to the idea. I wouldn’t rule it out, especially as no more than an option for his “defense” to use.
If he has no moral compass, he has no remorse for anybody and listening to Mary this man will never admit to being a loser so he will continue his show and when the verdict does come in he will still behave like the winner his mind tells him he is. Looking in the mirror and saying see dad I’m still a winner.
I agree dim cap is a defense, possibly a winning one, but I have to disagree regarding DJT’s intellect—or the lack thereof.
I, too, was married to a sociopath, but a very intelligent, almost scarily intelligent, sociopath. Over 28 years, he attracted other, less successful sociopaths into his orbit, and I can testify from myriad experiences of them that even a marginally smart one would never commit offenses as egregious, obvious, and most importantly, constant as Trump has done for decades.
Money has always protected him from being incarcerated or murdered—the dumb sociopaths in our midst almost never survive in the wild without either happening to them by the time they’re thirty—but he’s out of the kind of money he needs to buy his way free of this shit, no matter how diligently he fleeces his hardcore base of rubes, most of whom, I’d argue, are likewise sociopaths. Who knew there were so many of them, not knowing they’re sociopaths, walking around like regular people?
Narcissism has, by it’s own nature, an inability to believe anything from outside itself. I am not only one perspective, experience, stream of consciousness, I am THE universe, it whispers nonstop. McOrange Puffinstuff has had this reinforced time & again. Getting ready to be the ONLY president to lead a violent, deadly insurrection to stop the election he legally lost, & walk away again free as a bird. Sooner or later, instead of worrying about the crazy minority costing you a primary, maybe you republican traitors should start worrying about the RAGE of the majority, who have every reason to look in your direction.